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Alive & Kicking

What was Alive and Kicking?

Alive and Kicking was a two-year Dance and Health project delivered by Take Art in partnership with Sport England, The Arts Council, and Somerset's local authorities to provide a co-ordinated fitness programme for children, families, teachers and carers.

The project offered dance as an alternative to competitive sports, promoting active and healthy lifestyles for Somerset's young people.

The children’s confidence, spatial awareness and creativity in movement has improved greatly since the Take Art project. The impact has been obvious across the PE curriculum. Thank you

Alive and Kicking Primary School Teacher

Early Years Strand

The Early Years strand of the project, Kick Start, focused on working with children (two to five years), their families, teachers and carers.

Kick Start operated in Children’s Centres and Foundation settings within schools across the county, introducing new ways for settings to engage with their children through dance and movement.

Research undertaken as part of Alive and Kicking contributed to a report commissioned from researchers at Exeter University looking at how creative movement helps children to increase positive dispositions for learning.

Children and Young People Strand

Kick Off was a strand of Alive and Kicking focusing on five to 19 year olds in South and West Somerset, equally divided between formal education and outside of school settings. (These included: youth centres, after school clubs, young carers, medical home tuition service, women’s refuges).

Kick Off enabled young people to increase their physical fitness through a new activity and raised awareness of aspects of healthier lifestyles. The project had a positive effect on attitudes towards the value of dance for young people creating a demand for more dance activity in schools.